How do you change the bulbs in the fog lamps?

[Delaware_Tom]

I just got a pair of PIAA H3 55W Xtreme White bulbs from Auto Barn to put in my fog lamps to get the color closer to the HID's. I can remove the grills arount the lamps (that is in the owner's manual) but I haven't a clue on how to get to the lamps. There are two phillips screws above the lens and what looks like an aiming adjustment below and towards the centerline of the lens. Before I started taking out random screws (and screwing it up), I thought I'd check if anyone had any experience here. Thanks for any help anyone might offer.

- Tom (2001 2.7T)

[Stoney]

This means raising the car, removing the bottom tray, accessing the backs of the lamps, unscrewing a 2.5" cover, somehow extracting the bulbs, and inserting others. I couldn't get them done myself; one is too hard to access, evey by this procedure.

I tried going in the front, but a screw holding one lens on was seized and the philips slots stripped. Dealer replaced screw under warranty. But, they wanted $100 to put in my "xenon" bulbs. Not worth it... I'll wait until one blows out, then try to talk them into using my bulbs.

Other models allow you to go in the front, I'm told. I'm not sure, so I'll watch for others' comments.

[QCRAZY]

Changing Fog Light Bulbs

Very easy!!

HTH!!

[D-Nice]

There are 3 screws which hold the light to the frame just take those out and it will reveal the wiring harness (as the light is now only held on by that) Pop that off and the light is free. Turn it sideways and it will fit through the grill. Then on the backside there is another set of screws unscrew those and wala there is the bulb.
You should be able to handle it from there!
Just remember not to touch the bulb with your fingers as the oils from your fingers will cause premature bulb failure! I wiped mine off with a tissue before inserting.
I put in the same bulbs- they make a dramatic difference in APEARANCE as they are a lot whiter and resemble the Xeonons more closly than the factory h3's Good luck enjoy

[S1]

rear cap, pop out bulb. replace.

very simple.

don't know how your screw is stripped. your dealer doesn't like you very much to have the guts to charge you $100 to do it.

[Allart]

Answer: 11: 1 to hold the bulb and 10 to turn the car... (or something like that).

PS. No insult intended to any Belgium reader.

[LWLam]

to be sure before ordering.

Thanx!

[Delaware_Tom]

I followed the instructions at the link that IqDOU posted and it was even easier than that. First off, for LWLam, the lamps are part# XXXPIA15256 from www.autobarn.com. The posted URL (at the bottom) is for the H3 lamps page. The Xtreme White is near the bottom of that page. The lamps were $22.95 each and shipping was $6.50.

After getting off the grill as stated in the owner's manual (see towing eye attachment), the lamp housing looks like this:

The two phillips screws at the top above the lens are the ones holding the housing. The one to the left of the lens near the bottom is an aiming screw! You can adjust the fog light's aim up and down with it - more on this later.

Taking the two upper screws out (very easy, no real force needed) allows you to pull the housing out and remove the cable plugged into the back. There is a trick here - the plug has a latch that you release by pushing back (away from the lamp housing) with a flat bladed screwdriver in the slot on the catch. Here is the latch on the plug (above the purple bit), it unlatches by pushing towards my thumb:


Here is the grill, housing, and two mounting screws. Note that the screws have a bit of blue compound on them that keep them from vibrating out. I don't think you need to renew this stuff, just put the screws back in. Also, there is no need to tighten the screws excessively with that stuff on them - similar to blue locktite. Also note the rubber "snorkel" on the back of the housing that allows it to breathe but keeps moisture out:


Here is the back of the housing showing the two screws to remove to get to the lamp:


OK, remove those screws and you see the back of the bulb. Simply unplug the wire coming from the back of the lamp from the connector near the top of the photo (where the white wire is plugged into the grey wire). Then release the spring clips by pushing down & out and remove the old bulb. Real easy to take out the bulb and put in the new one without touching the glass as noted in the instructions with the bulb and also by other posters. Also the metal socket on the back of the bulb is polarized so you can't put it in wrong. Note the aiming adjustment screw in the bottom right hand side of the housing.


Route the wires below the lamp as you put the rear of the housing on. Replace and tighten the two screws. There is a plastic detail on the tabs that the screws go into that sets the tension on the rubber gasket and keeps you from overtightening it. Just snug the screws down and you will see what I mean.

Here is a comparison of the new lamp (left) with the old. Notice how much bluer the glass is on the Xtreme White:


After removing leaves from my intercooler (good chance to clean), I just plugged the housing back on the cable, manouvered it into position, and replaced and snugged up the two screws. The plate that the screws go into moves back and forth a little bit, but is well captured and doesn't need three hands. You can move the housing up&down and right&left a bit before tightening the screws. I just centered it, which is where it seemed to be before I removed it (see first photo). It helps to have a magnitized screwdriver, but is not necessary (mine isn't). BTW, the mounting screws are Phillips #3 (large) and the screws for the back of the housing are Phillips #2. I can see that you might have trouble with the wrong size screwdriver.

The color difference is really obvious. I have only done the driver's side so far and the passenger side looks way yellower. It is a good match to the HID's. I pulled the car into the garage and put a towel over the headlamp. I could then see the aiming of the foglamp. The new one matched the untouched one, so aiming does not seem to be affected by swapping the bulb. I used the adjustment screw to raise the lamp a bit (2.5 turns). From the factory they seem way too low. I will check it tonight and fine tune the aim. You can easily get to the adjustment with the grill back in place once you know where it is. I think I should be able to actually get them to be useful as fog lamps. I drive in fog a lot of mornings and the factory setting had them pointing to just in front of the bumper. There is a lot of room to move them up and still not blind anyone or render them useless as fog lamps - I want to see the side of the road 15 ft or so ahead.

This has been long winded, and I spent a lot of time taking photos. I expect that the whole job took less that 1/2 hr even so. The second side should take 10 minutes or less - it really is easy.

Here is a photo with the new lamp on the driver's side. The color difference doesn't show up very well in the photo - it is very obvious in real life.



I hope this answers any questions on changing these lamps.

- Tom (2001 2.7T)

[QCRAZY]

[Stoney]

The "official" method is to go in the bottom of the engine compartment and screw off the 2.5" caps on the back of the lamp assemblies.

There are some differences on the 4.2 that may be the reason for going in the back route, or perhaps it is because of the loctite on the screws (one of my philips heads' grooves stripped... it took a vice-grip to remove the bolt).

The parts are somewhat different looking on the 4.2, and the cable on the driver's side was a bit too short to easily get the connector off. Because of the high torque required to remove the loctite and screws, I changed the philips to allen head for easier removal next time.

I installed the PIAA platinums, which match fairly well to the Xenons without being blue. They were marked 55W->85W, which I think is marketing-speak for "these are 55W in fact, but we claim they are as bright as 85W." All I care about is that they should draw 55W. There were other bulbs marked "85W->135W" which the store claimed were actually 85W in current draw.

Are they correct? I have no interest in exceeding the wiring specifications of my car. 55W is all the current I want to draw.